Finding Purpose, Building Community: Dog Tag Alum Elizabeth Unaeze Is Helping Kids Grow Through the Arts
by Leslie Parsons
For Elizabeth Unaeze, the Dog Tag Fellowship Program offered more than an opportunity to develop her entrepreneurial skills. It gave her the tools to grow a passion project into a sustainable organization—and a community she could carry with her wherever military life takes her next.
Elizabeth is a Marine Corps spouse, mother of four, and founder and CEO of the Don’t Worry Willy Foundation (DWWF), an organization dedicated to lowering barriers to accessing and understanding mental health resources for children through storytelling, education, and the arts.
Her husband, a Marine Corps staff sergeant, has served for 17 years, first in the reserves and later on active duty. His career has taken their family from Maryland to Texas, Louisiana, and California, along with a year-long deployment to Kuwait. Today, they call New Orleans home.
It was the challenges of military family life—and an extraordinarily difficult period of transition—that helped inspire Don’t Worry Willy.
When the pandemic began in 2020, Elizabeth’s husband had recently returned from Kuwait, and the family was navigating the birth of their youngest child and the adoption of their oldest. Living at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, they were also thousands of miles from their extended family.
Inspired by one of her daughter’s school assignments, Elizabeth began looking for creative self-care activities she could do with her children. Writing became a way to have fun together while giving her children a safe space to explore and process their emotions.
What started as a workbook shared with other families on base eventually grew into a curriculum—and then into a musical.
Today, “Don’t Worry Willy: The Musical” has been seen by thousands of children, and the organization continues to expand its reach. DWWF also supports experiences including sensory-friendly events designed to ensure that neurodivergent children and children with physical or intellectual disabilities can participate. For Elizabeth, accessibility is essential: she wants every child to have the opportunity to experience Don’t Worry Willy, regardless of their circumstances.
Turning a Passion Into a Future
Elizabeth had already founded Don’t Worry Willy when she learned about the Dog Tag Fellowship Program through a military spouse leadership program. She applied because she wanted to gain the knowledge, mentorship, and business skills necessary to turn her passion into something she could pursue full time.
Dog Tag’s five-month fellowship combines business education, hands-on learning, wellness, networking, and community building for veterans, military spouses, and caregivers. For Elizabeth, the program also offered something particularly valuable: guidance from people who understood the realities of building an organization while being part of a military family.
The fellowship’s stipend allowed her to step away from her full-time job and devote herself to her work. During the program, she focused on strengthening DWWF and developing a foundation capable of raising funds to bring the musical and other Don’t Worry Willy experiences to children across the country.
But some of the most meaningful things Elizabeth gained weren’t found in a business plan.
As a military spouse accustomed to frequent moves, she knows how difficult it can be to build lasting friendships. At Dog Tag, she found a community that she believes will remain part of her life long after graduation.
“I’ve gained, not just a sense of community, but people I know are going to be friends for the rest of my life,” she said. “I got a bonus family through this cohort.”
Those relationships are already helping shape DWWF’s future: two members of Elizabeth’s Dog Tag cohort now serve on the foundation’s board.
And Elizabeth is thinking big about what comes next. She is currently developing a 12-city tour of “Don’t Worry Willy” and dreams of building a legacy in children’s programming inspired by creators such as Jim Henson and Fred Rogers.
What began as one mother looking for a way to help her children navigate a difficult moment has become something much larger: a mission to use creativity, storytelling, and joy to help children everywhere better understand themselves and their emotions.
For Elizabeth, the next chapter is just beginning.
To learn more about the Dog Tag Fellowship Program and our other nonprofit partners, please visit the True North Foundation’s website and sign up for our newsletter.